Comments on: Defectors in Japan show that not all NKs lack business savvy

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:19:02 +0000

#13,

Good point. “Of course she’s a ‘happy hooker’…it’s all about ensuring that their readers patronize the ‘gentleman’s clubs’ that advertise in their back-pages.” Is that what you’re getting at?

By: Maximus

Maximus — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:28:41 +0000

By the way, working “hard” in SK doesn’t necessarily mean working “smart”…

Everybody likes to say that work hard in SK, but results are usually minimum in the same period of time that a smart worker would have his/her things done.

By: Anton

Anton — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:00:19 +0000

Anything written in the Japanese tabloid weeklies needs to be taken with a grain of, no… a salt shaker.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:19:03 +0000

My point is that if North Korea falls suddenly, North Koreans will probably be one of these migratory populations that end up doing a lot of the three (or four) D’s around the Northeast Asian reigion. I don’t think there is anything wrong in saying this as it is pretty dang obvious in my mind.

Okay, you weren’t being judgmental. You were just repeating an idea often heard when people talk about post-collapse scenarios.

One thing that is not addressed is the human migration toil if NK collapses.

Addressed by whom? The reporter? Well, no, the story focused on North Korean sex workers in Japan, not the bigger issue of the ongoing tide of refugees.

By: Railwaycharm

Railwaycharm — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:07:22 +0000

(I’d add an unofficial fourth D and that would be Disrespected, i.e. sex workers).

It just isn’t so! We have a woman on this blog who aspires to the work and is envious of those who are equipped to do the job.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:52:58 +0000

@#5, Wanggon,

Thank you for clarifying what you meant by the vague terms “work ethic” and “mindset.”

If Koreans do flock to other countries to do 3D work, why is this a problem? Global migration already exists on a large scale. Given the choice, I’d rather do 3D work in Malaysia than stay in North Korea.

By: Bad Monkey

Bad Monkey — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:22:22 +0000

Actually the term ‘3D Work’ as applied to immigrant populations, to my knowledge, began in Japan in the early 1980s as a translation for the English language press of what were known widely as the ‘3 K’s’ in Japanese… kitanai (dirty), kiken (dangerous), and kitsui (difficult, i.e. physically fatiguing), often in the construction industry, forestry, etc. Work young Japanese wouldn’t do, and so it went to immigrants- some South Koreans in those days, but more typically Brazilians, Bangladeshis, Chinese, and Southeast Asians. And because the work had to be done, it meant the beginning of de facto tolerance for illegal immigrants. A fairly typical pattern in advanced post-industrial countries.

By: Linkd

Linkd — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:46:32 +0000

I know it was in widespread use in Singapore in ‘95.

By: mateomiguel

mateomiguel — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:37:53 +0000

Who started this 3D term? I never heard of it until last month. I think it was the Korean media. Can anybody confirm?

By: Linkd

Linkd — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:16:51 +0000

Just be glad it was Sonagi, WangKon. Just about anyone else around here who jumps on perceived biases is looking for a fight.

And yep, 60% of able-bodied male Norks to Chinese 3D work, another 20% to South Korean 3D work, and spread the able-bodied women around the usual migrant-labor maid destination countries, unless they’re pretty enough to be picked up as wives by 45-year-old Vietnamese farmers.